Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BOTS, n. [generally used in the plural. Fr. bout, end, as in their first stage they resemble the ends of a fine thread.]

A species of small worms found in the intestines of horses. They are the larves of a species of Oestrus or gad-fly, which deposits its eggs on the tips of the hairs, generally of the fore-legs and mane, whence they are taken into the mouth and swallowed. This word is also applied to the larves of other species of Oestrus, found under the hides of oxen, in the nostrils of sheep, &c. – Cyc.